I'm Andy Warren, currently a SQL Server trainer with End to End Training. Over the past few years I've been a developer, DBA, and IT Director. I was one of the original founders of SQLServerCentral.com and helped grow that community from zero to about 300k members before deciding to move on to other ventures.

I had dinner with Wes Dumey and Pam Shaw from Tampa last night to share some lessons learned and hear what they had in mind for their implementation. They made the decision to rent space at a hotel, partly out of lack of free venues and partly because the hotel can really help with logistics. Costs a little more, but removes a lot of the variables and decreases the number of volunteers needed. Overall I think they are going for the same type event we did in Orlando. Sessions will be 75 minutes instead of the shorter 50 minute sessions in Orlando. Another advantage to the hotel is that there is a bar/restaurant on site so they can have the "after" party right there.

Event will be Jan 12, 2008 in Tampa. Call for speakers is now open for the event, and they tell me they plan to host 3 one day $99 seminars on Fri, one of which will be Celko doing a presentation similar to the one he did in Orlando. Limited info available at www.sqlsaturday.com, I expect more updates to be published by Mon.

It's a lot of fun to see someone try a slightly different way of hosting the event and see what they consider important vs not. No right answers, just a chance to learn!